Rants & Raves

This is a message from a representative of the original Jedi Community to you ("Jedis Stand for the Census Count," May 31, 2001).

First of all, we do not worship Yoda, and we don't talk like him. Second, Jedi is not a full-fledged religion. Not to most of us, anyway. There is near-religious devotion in the Way of the Jedi, but it isn't built as a religion – there is no church, no real dogma. It is a belief, a way of life, a philosophy taken to heart, like Zen or Tao.

When creating Star Wars, George Lucas managed to take those things people truly believe in, those cores that are in every religion, and put them together in a beautiful, modern legend – the belief in good and in freedom. The belief in an entity that can be viewed as supernatural, but is nature itself. There's a lot of material in Star Wars to make a real-life system of beliefs. A Jedi is not someone who's crazy, but is just someone who cares with all his heart about the world, about life, about truth.

We are real people seeking real life goals and objectives within our lives that we feel are exemplified by the fictional Jedi of the movies. Yet, we are beyond the movies and realize that the Star Wars saga is just that, a set of movies. We also realize that the movies do carry many lessons that can be applied to real life – just like many religious mythologies.

We aren't walking psychic marvels, levitating ourselves to world domination. Nor are we madmen. Jedi aren't better, nor worse, than anyone else. We are human like the rest of the world; we grow, learn and play.